


One Step Forward [Volume #4]

by Hollyemberbvbarmy



Series: How To Train Your Dragon: Memoirs of Elizabeth Alta Hyde-Snyder [4]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Berk (How to Train Your Dragon), Birthmarks, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Discrimination, Dragons: Riders of Berk, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, Family Issues, HTTYD - Freeform, Jekyll and Hyde, Letters, Magical Tattoos, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Multi, Murder, Other, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Protective Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Rebellion, Rejection, Serious Injuries, Snotlout secretly cares about Hyde, Tattoos, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, how to train your dragon, tanned character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-13 04:50:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17481515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hollyemberbvbarmy/pseuds/Hollyemberbvbarmy
Summary: Dear Dolma,Yes, yes, I know that's not your name. Anyway, you encouraged me to write to you about what I do each day, every day, the problem with that, is it takes a while for you to get the letters, and ships don't come to Berk regularly, so I figured it would be easier to write it in a book, and send that when the book has bee filled. I must warn you though, knowing me the vast majority of it is me getting myself into trouble. Of course, having practically raised me, sort of, You'd know that.Speaking of being raised, dad sent me a letter, he want's me to come back to Akkadia, says there's some upcoming war, I don't want to go, if I can make myself valuable here, I can avoid going home, the most obvious path to take to make myself valuable, is to help train all the dragons, Gobber agrees.Micheal has been sending letters as well, he said he was getting close to Elizabeth, my twin sisters murder, as well as Mum's. I'm concerned, two letters have blood drops on it.- Elizabeth Alta Hyde-SnyderPlease read the previous books first.One Step Forward  II Volume #4 II How To Train Your Dragon: Memoir of Elizabeth Alta Hyde-Snyder





	1. "Rubik's Cube"

**01.**

**["Rubik's Cube"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TigHAH3oKA) **

 

Hyde's eyes squinted, zooming in on the direct route that she was guiding Toothless through. The wind was strong today, trying to push the young rider off of her dragon. She spotted the sea stack where Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and their dragons were watching eagerly. Toothless summersaulted then landed amongst the dragon riders who were waiting for them. "Okay, guys. Best Trick Competition. Who's up first?" Hyde asked, glancing left than right at the teens. "Me!' Snotlout said, interrupting Fishlegs, as he practically jumped to speak. "Actually, I think it's-" Fishlegs tried once again. Snotlout turned to him sharply. "Me!" Astrid groaned. "Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm, GO!" She said Snotlout turned to her. "Oh, don't worry, we'll go. And when we go, Hookfang and I are gonna light the sky on-" Hookfang launches forward than plummets off the sea stack, scaring the wits out of the unprepared teen. "-FIRE!!!!! Oh, no!" He screamed Hyde was beginning to really like Hookfang. Said dragon weaved through the sea stack, boulders and pulled stunts that not only and outside would consider endangerment to the rider, but also wonder if said rider has wet himself or not. Hookfang dived into the water before launching himself into the air, circling around and lands back on the sea stack with a thud. Hyde watched as Snotlout's eye fluttered open. "I'm alive...?" He started. "I'm alive!" He celebrated arms thrown in the air. Hyde snorted, suppressing a giggle while the others stared at him blankly, Astrid kicked Hyde's shin. Hyde's grunt of pain was hidden by Fishlegs's excited voice. "It's my turn! Ready, Meatlug?" He patted Meatlug.. "Here we go!" Fishlegs' Gronckle, Meatlug, takes off, flies around in a simple circle, then lands. Hyde leaned forward resting her elbows on Toothless's head. "Yes! New personal best!" He hugged Meatlug. Hyde didn't linger on her unimpressed annoyance as the twins voice, sharp, drew her attention. "My turn!" Ruffnut cried, pushing Tuffnut. "No, my turn!" He pushed back. Hyde coughed, drawing their attention. "Guys, same dragon." She pointed out.

 

"Oh, right."

 

Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Barf and Belch, took off, but then the Twins begin to argue on which way they should go. Hyde tuned out the arguing and squinted against the sunlight as she watched them narrowly miss colliding into one sea stack. Her eyes followed the twins as they were flung off the Hideous Zippleback, before being caught, thrown back onto the back of their necks, before landing back on the sea stack, the two looked scared, shocked. "We almost died," Ruffnut said, having barely caught her breath. "Yeah, I know..." Tuffnut launched up, a grin on his face and faced his sister. "Go again?!"

"Hey! It's my turn!" Astrid turned to face Hyde, "You might wanna take notes." Hyde's lips twitched into a smile. "Let's go! Yah!" Astrid and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, shot off the sea stack and flew down towards the ocean. "Okay, Stormfly, tail flip!" She shouted.

 

Stormfly flips her tail into the water. Spraying water everywhere. "Now twirl!" The Nadder then barrel rolls, shooting forward. "Quick, upwards spiral!" Hyde watches fascinated as they finish their routine with a final spin, high into the air.

 

As she lands back on the sea stack, the other Riders congratulate her performance. Snotlout crosses his arms. "Yeah, but can you do it without the dragon?" Astrid's response was a good, hard punch to his shoulder. He cried out in pain rubbing his shoulder.

 

Astrid turned towards Hyde, and gestures to her, she shifted, lowering her prosthetic from where it was being used as an armrest and engaged it. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us there, bud."

 

Toothless makes a vertical takeoff, then dives down the sea stack, right to the ocean. Hyde pulls up at the last second and shoots forward at breakneck speed. The two skillfully swerve in and out through the maze of sea stacks before coming across two conjoined rocks. As soon as they get close enough, Hyde unhooks her metal leg, and jumps onto the bridge between the two rocks, while Toothless glides under. heart pounding in her chest, Hyde runs across the rocky bridge, then jumps onto Toothless on the other side. "Yes!" She celebrates, not loud enough for the others to hear. The girl and the Dragon rocket towards the sky, leaving the other Riders amazed and awestruck. Toothless then shoots out multiple plasma blasts, which explode like fireworks. Hyde looks back at the riders and smiles. "Good job, bud." She patted Toothless as she made an affectionate warbling sound. The riders took off one by one, Hyde only managed to convince them of a best trick competition in form of training, she was baffled, in Akkadia you had to be a master at what you did, I mean sure, you had more leeway when you were younger, but you should be well on your way to becoming a master at your job choice or any other skill. If Hyde had told Dolma this though, how she occasionally looked at the group of teens, and especially Berk's army and thought: _how untrained_ she wouldn't hear the end of it, Dolma would say, 'that just because you've spent your whole life fighting and being trained by your father doesn't give you the right to look down on those who haven't.' Hyde feels jealousy though, she feels jealous of those who didn't have to be the best, the strongest, despite her obvious physical and less so obvious mental weakness, training with her father hurt, it was less of training and more of learning how to endure pain and keep your mouth shut.

 

Hyde blinks not having realised, as she was trapped in her own thoughts that they had already reached the village. Hyde climbed off Toothless and her eyes scanned the area, it was chaos, a Viking, pressed against his doorway, a Yak being chased by a Gronckle, a couple of Terrible Terrors stealing chicken from a woman, a Deadly Nadder who refuses to leave a man's roof, a Monstrous Nightmare stealing a sack of Apples from another man, and another Deadly Nadder chasing a group of chickens, running under a clothesline, and stealing a woman's underwear in the process. The Vikings shouted, scolded, pleaded with the dragons and Hyde winced. _Note to self: observe more wild dragons._ Suddenly the villagers scattered and Hyde took a few steps back. "Look out!" They cried. "Dragon poo!" Hyde stumbled back, as it practically starting racing dragon excrement, bumping into bucket, he held her stead, poo banging against the shields that had been nailed to what Hyde could guess were the bodies of torch sticks. Hyde covered her nose.

 

"Hey, Mulch, hey Bucket." She greeted, voice muffled by her bandaged hands. "Sensitive nose?" Mulch asked the young Akkadian, she nodded. "Sorry about the-" She motioned the poop shower. "Every day at three. They're regular at least. A tip of the cap." Hyde released a breath, knowing it wasn't really her fault, _why at three? And all of them?_

 

"Better than the days when it was "kill or be killed"." Hyde shrugged her shoulders. "True."

 

***-*-***

 

Most of the villagers on Berk are willing to take the good with the bad. But there are those who will never accept the dragons and will do anything to drive them away. One such man was a cranky old man by the name of Mildew, who lives on the outskirts of the village, in a small house next to a farm. Inside, sleeping the now night away was Mildew. Suddenly, the roof of his house shakes, waking him up. He groans and growls, grabbing his staff with dragon bones tied to it and stormed outside muttering and grumbling as he went. Turning around to glare at the roof he huffs. "Dragons. I should have known." a large Gronckle had made itself comfortable on his roof and was now snoring loudly.

 

He growls, holding up a half-eaten Cabbage from his field, glaring back at the dragons on the roof. "Helps himself to my roof and my cabbage." He's eyes follow the cabbage remains that lead from the cabbage field, his eyes widened and he stares in horror. "My whole field! Gone! That does it, Fungus."

 

Mildew grabs his helmet, staff, and sheep, Fungus. then walks towards the village with a scowl on his face. "It's that Akkadian's fault the reckless, peace-loving pompous bitch." He said as he began his journey back, which would take a few hours, due to his location on the island.

 

***-*-***

 

"Stand the elk up in the back. The fishing boats just came in with a big catch." Stoick order as Viking scurried around him, the clink and clang of Mildew's staff ornaments announced his arrival as he approached the chief. "Stoick!" Gobber sighed muttering under his breath. "Ah, here's Mildew with the complaint of the day."

 

Stoick turned to him briefly. "You picked a bad time, Mildew. I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming."

 

"It's the dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live among civilised men."

 

"Neither are you, Mildew. Why do you think we built your house so far outside of town?" Gobber asked, "Ah, very well, make your jokes. Meanwhile, these dragons upend our village carts! Turn people's houses into piles of rubble!" He motioned to the mess around him, toppled carts and broken houses. A woman made her way over, to hear what was going on, quickly followed by many others.

 

"Mildew's right!" A Viking shouted.

 

"They even disturb an old man's rest! Can't you see these bags under me eyes?"

 

"Go on, Mildew!"

 

"He's right, he's hideous," Gobber said Hyde who had been drawn out hiding in the Smithy slowly made her way to Gobber's side, Toothless sticking close to her.

 

"These are wild and unpredictable beasts!"

 

"Right you are!" Another Viking agreed.

 

"They even cracked this man's skull! Like an egg." He pointed to Bucket's well, Bucket. He perked up. "Eggs? I like eggs! Scrambled! Over easy! Poached!"

 

"And," he shouted turning to Hyde. She took a step back. "They are controlled by her!" Murmers echoed through the crowd, and Gobber moved closer to the teen. "an Akkadian that took over Berk, all to please her dear old dad." Hyde's eyes fell. "An Akkadian, that is dangerous, a monster, that probably plans to use these dragons to take over Berk again. You need to put them in cages! All of them!"

 

"I agree!" Shouted another Viking. quickly followed by the rest.

 

"If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village, and then she'll turn us all into slaves for the Akkadian's!" Hyde almost let out an audible whimper, Toothless pressing his face against her torso comfortingly while positioning himself in front of the rider.

 

The crowd grew angry and they continues to yell.

 

"They don't mean any harm. They're just dragons being dragons." Gobber said glancing at the teen behind him.

 

Stoick finally spoke up, stepping forward. "Look, Mildew, if there's a problem I'll deal with it."

 

"Oh, there is a problem, Stoick. And I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it." One Step Forward [Volume #4]

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come check me out on:  
> Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9ZJRv28CvcutCHdgjoxPQ?view_as=subscriber where I post music stuff, such as live performances and originals.   
> SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/holly-cunningham-280913653/tracks  
> Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/hollyemberbvbarmy


	2. "Rubik's Cube - Part 2"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In "Rubik's Cube - Part 2" Hyde and the rest of the dragon riders try to sort out the chaos that the dragons are creating. Hyde refuses to let the dragons be sent away. determined to solve this 'Rubik's Cube'

**02.**

["Rubik's Cube - Part 2"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TigHAH3oKA)

 

Later, in Stoick’s house, Hyde was seated on a table, legs swinging back and forth as Gobber and Stoick talked about the dragon problem. "We can't just let dragons run wild like they own the place.” Stoick was saying. Gobber, who was sat next to Hyde, tapped on her notebook at a specific spot on her designs, pointing out a mistake. Before returning to duck carving. “Hey, we could put up signs!” He suggested. Both Gobber and Hyde looked up, puzzled and confused. 

 

“Signs? For dragons?” Gobber questioned, an eyebrow raised.

 

“No! For the people.”

 

“Signs? For Vikings? We're not big readers, Stoick.” Stoick made a noise of annoyance.

 

“Then we'll build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza.”

 

“Nets? You do know they breathe fire?” Hyde said Stoick glared at her.

 

“I know very well they breathe fire.” He sighed. “Maybe Mildew was right. We have to figure something—“ Hyde’s feet hit the ground with an audible clang. “Wait, before you throw the towel in why don’t you consider this.” Stoick looked at her as she approached the chief. “Why don’t I deal with the dragons.” She suggested. “You?”

 

“First Viking to train and ride dragons.” She pointed out, almost smugly. Stoick crossed his arms and stared at the teen contemplating. “Fine, you start tomorrow.” He said eventually.

 

“Yes!”

 

“Oh, and Hyde?” Stoick started. “Don’t let your pride get the better of you.” She watched inc confusion as the chief ascended the stairs and out of sight, she turned to Gobber for some explanation. He avoided her gaze and stared intently at the duck he was carving. _What pride?_

 

***-*-***

 

The next day, Hyde realised she may have bitten off more than she can chew, a nagging feeling told her she’ll be doing that a lot in the future, mind you, if she told any of the teens that she’d bitten off more than she could chew they’d motion to her almost dragon-like teeth and ask; ‘are you sure?’

 

Hyde had started with a Nadder who was wrestling bread from a woman, she was successful until the Nadder was startled and it was dominoes from there, the crash which was caused by a Gronckle chasing a group of chickens was barreling over an assortment of items, crashing and knocking over carts, barrels and the sorts, the Nadder chased after them, next was a fighting Monstrous Nightmare and Deadly Nadder who were near a sheep farm, one was set on fire and the scattered, Hyde instructed Toothless to stop the fight while Hyde ran for some water to put out the fire on the sheep. The Plaza was chaos, worse than the day before, after successfully (with some impressive maneuvering) Hyde was successful at putting out all the fires on all the sheep which were close to the fight. She sighed in relief, before looking up as shadows blocked the sunlight. “Seriously?” She grumbled angrily, diving towards the store, narrowly missing being shit on, she covered her nose wondering why she suggested this again.

 

Hyde came to the conclusion, that unlike most of her shenanigans and escapades, this task required planning, proper planning.

 

***-*-***

 

Hyde lay sprawled on her bed, lazily kicking at her prosthetic to get it off her sore stump. Hyde could see moonlight peaking through the windows and the doorway that lead to a think branch, like a balcony, just without any safety precautions. She dragged her body towards the doorway and excited before lowering herself on the branch, leaning against another one behind her. It was a great view, something that not only she could have predicted whilst designing her tree house. Hyde’s attention was drawn to Toothless as he stayed inside the bedroom, looking at her but refusing to move from his comfy position.

 

“Hyde?” A voice called up from the bottom. It was Astrid, she glanced over to Toothless. “Astrid? Perfect. I don't look too beat-up, do I?” She received a pitying smile from the dragon. “Great, Dragon pity.” She could hear Astrid walking up the stairs that were built for others who don’t spend half their time climbing tree’s. (Gobber and Stoick’s words!) She entered Hyde’s room and then leant against the doorframe which leads to where Hyde was currently sitting. “Hey, Astrid, what brings you here?” She asked. Instead of answering Astrid decided to settle down next to Hyde on the branch. “So, how was your day?” She asked. Hyde blinked in confusion and shock. “Uh...Uneventful. Hung around the plaza, did some work, annoyed Stoick, you know…” She trailed off. “Yeah, I do know. We saw you out there. It's hard to believe you're still standing.” Hyde falls onto her back exhausted, given up the act.

 

“Ugh...! I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month.” A pause.

 

“Wait, we?”

 

Before Astrid could respond Stoick’s screams brought the teens attention down below as he waved them to come down. Astrid ran to the stairs whilst Hyde grabbed a rope which she had tied to the bench and swung down, she rubbed her hands on her pants, mentally adding gloves to her list of things to make. “Hyde! Hyde, what's going on out there? The plaza looks like a war zone.” Stoick said breathlessly. Hyde fidgeted. “Well…” she said beginning to correct him. “Just a saying,” Stoick growled out. “I know it looks bad…” Hyde began once more. ‘Really bad.” Astrid whispered. “Yeah, but this is only Phase One of my master plan.” Hyde declared. “Oh, so you do have a plan?” Hyde nodded. “When have I not had a plan?” She asked. “Red Death.” He stated, a little too quickly for Hyde’s liking. “Wha- I had a plan!” She defended. Stoick sighed pinching the bridge of his nose holding up his hand. “Enough, what is the plan?”

 

“It's very complex. Lots of drawings, several moving parts. You know, my kind of plan.” Hyde said. Stoick gave her a disbelieving look before sighing.

 

“Uh-huh. Well, this better be real. Because Mildew's stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads.” Hyde winced and Toothless made a worried sound. Hyde patted him, arms wrapping around his neck as much as she could protectively.

 

“You do realize there are, like, a bazillion dragons out there and only one of you? I hope you really do have a plan.” Astrid said after Stoick was beyond earshot. Hyde scratched at the back of her head nervously.

 

***-*-***

The next morning, Hyde and the other Dragon Riders are gathered with their dragons in the old arena.

 

“That's your plan? Train dragons?” Ruffnut summed up. Hyde shrugged nodding.

 

“Here? Where we used to kill them?” Tuffnut questioned.

 

Hyde placed the basket on the ground. “Right… because we don't do that anymore. That's why it's available.” Hyde pointed out.

 

“Actually, the dragons do seem a little nervous,” Astrid said, as she patted Stormfly to calm her down. “That's because they're very sensitive. Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it.” Fishlegs said. Hyde briefly wondered how he knew that.

 

“It's amazing Stoick just gave us the arena,” Astrid said approaching Hyde.

 

“Well, it would be, if he did, yeah, but, he didn't, so that's another thing we should try not to talk about.”

 

“Wait, so we're going behind Stoick’s back? What about just asking him?” Astrid asked. Hyde turned to her. “If you were in Stoick’s position would you willingly give me free access to the arena. A moment of silence as she didn’t want to voice her answer. “Exactly.”

 

Hyde turned to face the rest of the riders. “Alright. Everybody, here's the thing. The dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village... we've gotta do something about that.”

 

“Got it! Help dragons blow things up! We can totally do that.” Tuffnut said grinning. She glared at the twins. “Here's how we're gonna do it: First, we make them really, really angry,” Ruffnut said before Hyde could interject. “No problem. We anger everybody.” Tuffnut said. “Mildew wants all of our dragons caged. And I don't know about you, but that's not okay with me.” Hyde said, voice louder than the twins, bring them to a stop.

 

“You're right. She's sorry.” Ruffnut glares at her brother.

 

“Okay, then. Next problem: The dragons are eating everything in sight. Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have, you can get him to drop it by giving him a little scratch just below the chin.” As she explains this, she holds up a loaf of bread, which Toothless snatches out of her hand. She then gets Toothless to drop the bread by scratching his chin, which the dragon enjoys.

 

“Ehneneneneuh! Maybe that works for you and Toothless, but Hookfang and me? We do things a little different.” Snotlout said as he took the bread from Hyde and tosses it to Hookfang who catches it. “When I want this big boy to do something I just get right in his face and-- DROP THAT RIGHT NOW! YOU HEAR ME?!” Hyde jolted back and Tootles wrapped his tail around her waist in an almost comforting gesture.

 

Annoyed, Hookfang drops the bread, then grabs Snotlout in his mouth, leaving just his legs visible as he lifts the teen into the air. “See? He dropped it.” Hyde had to give Snotlout that.

 

“Heh heh. Should we help him?” Tuffnut asked. Astrid, who was smiling replied. “Yeah, in a minute.” Hyde rolled her eyes. “Astrid.” Astrid huffed and helped Snotlout down.

 

“Alright. We've got a lot of work to do, but together, we can keep these dragons under control."

 

***-*-***

 

The teens set out to find the dragon’s only t find the part of the village that seemed almost concerningly dragon free, and well, Viking free. “Huh, no dragons,” Fishlegs said. “That was easy,” Ruffnut commented. “Lunch?” Was Snotlout suggestion, and if anyone asked she was totally going to shoot down that suggestion like a responsible person and get on with the job. Before she can add her thoughts into the conversation and explosion jolts the teens to attention, Hyde already running towards the screams, it was the storage house. Flames and smoke flew up into the air creating a mushroom cloud.

 

Astrid watched as Hyde ran, much quicker to react than the rest, Astrid wondered if it had anything to do with the previous wars Hyde has been through. “Something tells me that way.” She said before the rest of the teens started running in the same direction.

 

The Dragon Riders finally arrive at the scene, where what was once the food storage house is now a pile of smoking splinters. They also see the Riders' dragons eating all the fish from storage.

 

“Stormfly?” Astrid said shocked.

 

“Hookfang?” Snotlout shouted.

 

“They've eaten everything! We've got nothing left for the freeze!” Stoick said as he approached Hyde.

 

“I warned you, Stoick. But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of teenagers in charge! Now, look what the dragons have done! Caging is too good for those beasts.” Hyde stepped forward. “I swear I can fix this. We- we were just starting to-“ Stoick interrupted

.

“Enough, Hiccup! How can I trust you to control all the dragons, when you couldn't even control your own?” He gestures to Toothless, who stalled a fish from a basket that now tumbled to the floor, now empty. “Seriously?” She asked Toothless, annoyed. Stoick turned around. “Bucket! Mulch! Man the boats! We need another catch!” He shouted Hyde hurried to keep up with him as Gobber approached the two silently.

 

“It's too late, Stoick. It took us six months to catch all that fish.” Mulch said nervously.

 

“Don't tell me it's too late! We've got to try!”

 

“Of course we do!” He turned to bucket. “Uh, don't tell the Chief it's too late. You're always so negative!”

 

“I don't know what it is with me.” Bucket said.

 

“Please! You gotta listen to me. I know dragons better than-“ She was interrupted once again. “Not now, Hyde. I have a village to feed. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?” She opened her mouth to protest.

 

“Bah! You can't just cage these dragons! You need to send them away now!” Mildew said. “Piss off, Mildew.” Hyde hissed fury radiating off of her in waves. “That's enough!” Stoick pushed the Akkadian away from Mildew and himself, as the villagers shouted out their agreement with Mildew, Gobber stopped her from tripping over some of the wreckage. “You're right, Mildew. We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning, Hyde will send them off the island.” Hyde exhaled loudly, glaring at Stoick. Astrid thought for a moment she saw smoke coming out of Hyde’s nose.

 

***-*-***

“I can't believe we have to send them away!” Snotlout said, sitting amongst the other depressed teens in the great hall, Hyde was sitting on the floor, Toothless’s head resting on her lap as she patted him. “It's gonna be weird. I got used to seeing Stormfly's face being the first thing I see every morning.” Astrid said.

 

“Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet. Who's gonna do that now?!” Fishlegspractically wailed.

 

“I volunteer Tuffnut!” Ruffnut said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work. “Whatever. What time should I be there?”

 

Astrid pushed herself onto her feet, dinner forgotten. “Come on, guys. Let's get this over with.” The riders rise out of their seats and follow Astrid to the arena to lock up their dragons. “This is the worst day of my life! We're never gonna see our dragons again!” Hyde wasn’t entirely sure who said that. it didn’t matter, she stayed silent, the only movement was her hand. “Oh, Toothless, I'm gonna miss you so much... You know what your mistake was?” Mildew said in mock regret, Hyde glared at the old man. “I’m assuming your gonna tell me whether I want to or not.” He sent her a seething look.”-Thinking dragons could be trained. But a dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gonna do. It's their nature. And nature always wins.”

 

Mildew turned to leave. “and not to mention, all Akkadians are good for Is war.” Hyde moved her hand curling around the short sword Stoick had given her as he glared at the man's back, before she could door anything, the door loudly opened and she took her hand off. A cold chill blows into the Great Hall, making the fireplace go out. Toothless relights it with a plasma blast. “Oh! Thank you, Toothless.” A woman said. Hyde’s eyes widen. “Of, course!”

 

She patted Toothless sharply getting him off of her. “Mildew’s right, let’s go find the others.”

 

***-*-***

Hyde could feel the wind pushing against her body as the two flew towards the Arena, despite it being dark she could see pretty well, she made a mental note to thank her father for that later, then punch him for it. “Don’t close it!” she shouted. Ready to jump off as soon as she landed next to the closing gates. Hyde graves the lever and yanks it in the opposite direction, pulling the gates up. “We are not locking them up.” She declared. “What happened? Did you change Stoick’s mind…?” Hyde snorted. “Or are we going behind his back again…?” Astrid concluded. “pick whoever one helps you sleep at night, the point is there is no real reason to lock them up. They’re dragons! An annoying man once told me that dragons are gonna do what a dragons gonna do. And it’s true, but instead of trying to stop why not use it?” The teens seemed to understand what she was saying. “Calling Stoick annoying isn’t going to help you,” Astrid said as they were preparing for the next day. “What made you think I was referring to Stoick?” Hyde said smiling as she walked off. Astrid watched the smaller Viking as she left, shocked before a small smile graced her lips.

 

***-*-***

 

Mulch lifted up the nets. “Ah, the nets are empty again.” He said disappointed upon the reveal of no fish, just like the last time he checked. “Did I eat them already? Did I enjoy it? Oop- am I being too negative?” Bucket asked.

 

Snotlout and Hyde flew over to the boat. “Snotlout, scare us up some dinner!” She instructed. Hookfang dived and Hyde winced as Bucket screamed. He whooped loudly when he resurfaced, mulch lunged to the nets, and pulled it up, finding it filled with fish. “Hey! Thanks, dragon!”

 

“THAT'S RIGHT! THAT JUST HAPPENED!” Snotlout shouted in celebration. Hyde chuckled. She motioned towards the other riders to follow her towards Mildew’s cabbage field. Where he was trying to plant more cabbages. He gave a cry of surprise when he spotted the dragons. “Afternoon, Mildew!”

 

“It’s morning!” Hyde shouted. Astrid rolled her eyes as she used Stormfly’s tail to dig into the soil, quickly followed by Hyde with cabbage seeds which were poured into the ground up dirt. “Three o'clock! Time for the fertilizer!” Hyde shouted. As hundreds of dragons were directed to Mildew’s farm. Astrid having moved to make sure all the other farms received the same treatment. “Fertili—?” Mildew stumbled away from the field in order not to get pooped on. “Smile, Mildew! We just saved you three months of work!” Hyde boasted.

 

In the forest, the Twins are using Barf and Belch's explosions to scare a sounder of wild boars. Once they run out of the forest, Hyde herds them all into the village's slaughterhouse.

 

“That's the way to do it!” Hyde celebrated.

 

“Whoo-hoo! That was awesome!” Fishlegs cheered. “How did you know that was gonna work?” Astrid asked. “It’s good to have a basic understanding of how animals behave. and, they’re dragons, and they're gonna do what dragons do. We just have to work with them and not against them. You know who we should actually be thanking-?” Speak of the devil. “There they are, Stoick! Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me.” Mildew said leading the chief into the arena where the riders were. Hyde gulped in fear.

 

“No. This is not what I asked for.” Stoick looked angry, and Gobber seemed to be fidgeting restlessly.

 

“Oh, no! What's Stoick gonna do to us?” Fishlegs said worriedly.

 

“I'm too pretty for jail!” Ruffnut cried. Hyde raised an eyebrow. “Ha, where'd you hear that?” Tuffnut said. “You all disobeyed my orders... and there will be consequences,” Stoick said.

 

“I told you we were gonna get in trouble. Ugh, you never listen to me!” Astrid said, crossing her arms and huffing. “To be fair, I don’t listen to anyone.” Hyde pointed out, she stepped forward, ready to take on full responsibility.

 

“Oh, this is going to be great, Fungus. It's about to get ugly.” Mildew said gleefully.

 

“You took over this place without asking. You released the dragons against my wishes. Things are going to change around here. That's why I-“ Gobber burst forward pushing in front of the chief. “You're getting a Dragon Training Academy!”

 

“Wha-?” Mildew sputtered.

 

Hyde chocked on her own spit. “You…What?”

 

“We want you to continue teaching and learning and training dragons, and what better place to do that, then in a dragon training academy.” Cheers erupted from the spectators and Hyde blinked, having trouble processing that. “Huh?” She said barely audible. The sound of the cages opening. Hyde was practically barrelled over by an excited Toothless, as the dragons were released. “Hey, Toothless.”

 

Stoick smiled. “Now all you have to do is train ‘em."

 

“Not a problem. After all, I've got him.”

 

“Ah-hem?” Astrid coughed drawing attention to the other teens. “And... them, too.”

 

The teens crowded around Hyde as they chattered excitedly, Snotlout practically hanging off of Hyde’s small frame, almost making her tumble to the floor under his weight. She glanced up at Stoick.

 

“I don’t suppose you can tell Gobber to back off on the babysitting?” She asked hopefully.

 

“Not a chance.” 

 

 

 

**See you next week in "Worker's Song."**


	3. "Worker's Song"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peace with the dragons has put Gobber out of business as a weaponry blacksmith. Feeling responsible and being ordered to by Stoick, Hyde tries to help find a new job for Gobber, however, Gobber's slightly eccentric and overenthusiastic personality makes this difficult.

**03.**

["Worker's Song"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTafZRecy2k)

 

 

_“Everybody needs a place in the world.” Hyde’s father had once said. Something that Hyde herself has been working hard to find, and she thinks, she feels that with the friendship between herself and Toothless, she’s finally found it, she’s sad though, that her place, wasn’t where her home was. “Some people are born to theirs.” Her father continued, motioning to his youngest daughter Jett, who he had declared fit to be chief. “Some people discover theirs.” Dolma had added in as she tended to her chiefs wounds. “But you were born into yours.” Lui, Hyde and Jett’s little brother pointed out, Dolma nodded with a soft smile at the young boy. “Indeed.” She said. “And some people, like your ancestors, make a place for themselves.” Hyde’s eyes widen as she grinned, jumping up. “That’s what I’ll do!” She cried. “I’ll make a place for myself.” The Akkadian chief rolled his eyes, making a noise of disbelief. “You’ll be lucky if you survive till your eighteen kid.” He said, standing up, causing the young Hyde to shrink back, as David loomed over her, his massive height casting a shadow over the young child. “If your lucky, you’ll be a soldier, but I highly doubt you’d survive the training.”_

It was this memory, which Hyde found herself thinking about, as she massaged the bridge of her nose for ideas.

Earlier That Day

The sound of the hammer clanging against the sword was sharp in Hyde’s ears, which was quickly followed by a deep sigh, as Gobber, almost limply slotted the sword into the cart with the rest of the now musty unused weapons. She remember, the energy, put into the weapons, always preparing for the next raid, the Smithy, almost always working and Hyde almost always helping, it kept her out of trouble especially after Snotlout broke her right arm during the Pirate Program, Hyde was secretly grateful, as she was forced to use her left hand, her preferred one, but she’ll die before telling him. Something tugged at her sleeve, it was Astrid. “Everyone’s waiting.”

 

Hyde turned around, uncrossing her arms. “Right, yeah. Let’s go.” She murmured as she climbed on Toothless and heading to the new Dragon Academy in the arena. Astrid glanced at Hyde worriedly. As she began walking towards the group. “Finally!” Snotlout said, his voice grating against Hyde’s ears. “We thought you were never gonna turn up.” Tuffnut said. She waved them off. “Sorry, sorry. Anyway.” She turned around. “Every Dragon has its own unique abilities that give it its special place in the world. Which dragon makes the best welding torch?” Hyde said, diving straight into a quiz. As Astrid leaned on a barrel on the left side of the chalkstone next to Fishlegs, while Snotlout and the Twins were on the opposite side. Hyde turned around and drew a cross, writing Team Astrid on the left, and Team Snotlout on the right. “Oh! Deadly Nadder!” Astrid cried. This little competitive quiz is something Hyde has been doing over the last couple of days, trying to encourage them to find out everything they can on dragons, so they could use any information they have at their disposal, when they were in a tricky situation.

 

“Its magnesium flame burns with the heat of the sun!” Fishlegs excitedly explained.

 

“Correct! Point to Team Astrid.” Astrid and Fishlegs fist bumped. “Score is now 100 to 15,” Hyde said, adding another point, as she said, it’s been going over a few days. “And you started with 10.” Astrid said laughing. Tuffnut leaned forward menacingly. “Oh, yeah? Well, the game's not over. Wait, what team am I on?”

 

Hyde sighed. “Next question.” She said loudly, drawing attention back to her. “What is the shot limit of a Hideous Zippleback? Team Snotlout.”

 

“I don't think they can count that high.” Astrid taunted pretending to whisper to Fishlegs who in turn giggled behind his hand. Hyde glared at the two. “Oh, really? Let's find out! Barf! Belch!” On command the dragon reared it’s two head and shot at the wide-eyed Fishlegs and Astrid, who barely managed to duck out of the way in time. Hyde counted six shots. Snotlout chuckled. “Looks like it's about three,” Tuffnut said, holding up two fingers.

 

Hyde stared, mouthing hanging open in shock. “Told you we could count that high!” Ruffnut boasted Hyde shook her head violently. “It's six. You were half-right. Five points.” Hyde said, adding five points to the board.

 

“Yes! We're up to 30!” Ruffnut high-fives Snotlout and Tuffnut. Astrid glared at Hyde. “Alright, it's our turn. What happens when you shoot fire at the owner of a Deadly Nadder?” She whistles for Stormfly, who shoots her tail spikes at the other team, pinning them to the wall, unharmed.

 

“No fair! She didn't give us time to answer!” Tuffnut cried. Snotlout jumps down from the wall. “I've got a question. What happens when I sic Hookfang on you?”

 

“Okay, guys, that's enough!” Hyde said, stepping between the two. Snotlout who was still ready for a fight sneered at Astrid as he climbed onto Hookfang. “Prepare to face the Monstrous Nightmare!” He pats Hookfang’s jaw, who’s eyes snap open, and he suddenly rears up and sets himself on fire. Snotlout screamed. “AH! THAT'S THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK!” He screams jumping into a nearby water tub. Promptly putting out his flaming butt. Hookfang roared again and hurried away.

 

“Aahhh... sweet relief.” Snotlout sighed. Hyde scrunched up her nose, it’s been a while since she’s smelt burnt flesh.

 

Hyde was now concerned and confused. “Hookfang never flames up when you're riding him. Is he okay?” She asked. “Maybe he just realized who his owner is.” Astrid said sarcastically. Hyde grunted her response, unimpressed.

 

“There's room in here for two.” Snotlout flirted as Astrid passed, she grabbed his helmet and pushes him underwater, before storming off. Hyde watched her go, before being roughly punched in the arm, she turned her attention back to Snotlout who was grinning at her as he looked back and forth between her and Astrid. She gave a warning growl as she pulled him out of the tub, checking to see if there was any major injury. He protested loudly. Hyde rolled her eyes. “I didn’t spend all my time around the tribe's healer to not pick up a few things Snotlout,” Hyde informed, almost amused. She crossed her arms, “It’s either me or Gothi.” He shuddered at the mention of the Tribe Healers name. “Fine.” He agreed as the rest of the team left.

 

“Do your worst.” Hyde grinned manically, cracking her knuckles.

 

***-*-***

Thankfully, the injuries were nothing serious, and Snotlout, who had a habit of getting himself injured, had at one point, started coming to her, rather than Gothi, he claims it’s because she’s closer and she doesn’t hurt him as much when she’s treating his wounds. Hyde had stopped, Gobber drawing her attention as she walked past a small bucket filled with two towels and used water, which she used to treat Snotlout’s wounds. A crowd gathered around Gobber as he showcased his weapons, trying to sell them. “Gather around!” He cried. “Come on, one and all! You may think these dragon-killing weapons have no more use, but think again! This long sword is now a lovely butter knife!” He tries to spread the butter but only breaks the bread into little crumbs, “Eh. It's also good for making breadcrumbs.” He said, awkwardly. The plate cracks and breaks. The crowd watches in silence. “Moving on.”

 

Hyde would have jumped out of her skin if it wasn’t for her training, to always be aware of your surrounding, as Mildew spoke from beside her, where he wasn’t a moment before. “Well, this is a dark day.” He said in mock pity. Hyde considered punching him. “A great dragon slayer peddling his weapons as kitchen utensils? Hm. Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk.” Punching him was looking like a better idea, Hyde thought. Gobber held up a large mace. “Up next, how about this…” He tried to think of a good purpose for the item when he spots a fly land on the nearby table. “...handy flyswatter?” He declared, sounding more like a question than anything.

 

Gobber brings the mace down and smashes the table. The crowd gasps. Gobber looks at the result. “He-he. Also good for getting rid of unwanted tables.”

 

The fly emerges from the wreck, completely unharmed. Gobber walks over to a large catapult. “Now, for the lady of the house! When the hubby's off pillaging, how are you to protect yourself from home invaders? No problem when you have Big Bertha!” He patted the catapult and it flings open, hurling stone into Silent Sven's house, who looks about in confusion. The crowd disperses slowly while chattering amongst themselves, soft enough that Gobber, who is frantically trying to get their attention back, won't hear. Hyde felt something in her gut twist while Mildew Tsk’s once more. “Ah, it's hard to watch. Especially for you, eh, Hyde? The feelings of guilt must be tearing at your insides. I mean, you put him out of business with your little peace pact with the dragons. You ruined his life. But I guess you're used to that, that’ what Akkadian’s do, don’t they?” Mildew slinked off and Hyde turned her attention back to Gobber, who was murmuring to the catapult.

 

***-*-***

_“Everybody needs a place in the world.” Hyde’s father had once said. Something that Hyde herself has been working hard to find, and she thinks, she feels that with the friendship between herself and Toothless, she’s finally found it, she’s sad though, that her place, wasn’t where her home was. “Some people are born to theirs.” Her father continued, motioning to his youngest daughter Jett, who he had declared fit to be chief. “Some people discover theirs.” Dolma had added in as she tended to her chiefs wounds. “But you were born into yours.” Lui, Hyde and Jett’s little brother pointed out, Dolma nodded with a soft smile at the young boy. “Indeed.” She said. “And some people, like your ancestors, make a place for themselves.” Hyde’s eyes widen as she grinned, jumping up. “That’s what I’ll do!” She cried. “I’ll make a place for myself.” The Akkadian chief rolled his eyes, making a noise of disbelief. “You’ll be lucky if you survive till your eighteen kid.” He said, standing up, causing the young Hyde to shrink back, as David loomed over her, his massive height casting a shadow over the young child. “If your lucky, you’ll be a soldier, but I highly doubt you’d survive the training.”_

It was this memory, which Hyde found herself thinking about, as she massaged the bridge of her nose for ideas. Hyde shifted and looked at the prosthetic that was lying on the bench. Toothless approached her, warbling and nudging her. “Hey, T.” She patted him, he rested his head on her lap, mainly resting on her right leg due to the left one lying on the bench rather than attached to her leg. “Gobber made the leg, you know? He looked after me, treated me like a human being when everyone looked at me like I was a monster, maybe…maybe I am a mons-“ Toothless bit her hand, causing her to cry out in pain and jerk back, glaring at the dragon, he huffed, before resting his head back on her lap. She sputtered her protests but was cut off by the sound of heavy footsteps. The chief heaved an exhausted sigh at the door to her little treehouse, before trudging in, and making himself at home on one of the seats. Hyde watched him silently, unsure of what exactly to do in this situation, with an exhausted chief sitting on a chair in her house when it would be much easier (and makes more sense) to simply go to his own home. “I was all over the island.” Stoick started, Hyde, too lazy to put the leg back on, hobbled over to a large jug and grabbed to mugs, pouring the ale into the large cups and slowly hobbled her way back to Stoick, careful not to spill any. He hadn’t even paused when she stood up. “I married the Svensson girl to the Odegaard boy at dawn. Then down to the fields where some kids were tipping over yaks.” Hyde handed one mug to him, before hobbling back to her previous seat, the tray placed on the desk and the crutch she was using cluttered to the floor after unsuccessfully trying to balance it against the desk upright. “Then back up to the newlyweds to settle a domestic dispute. I guess that honeymoon's over.” Toothless re-lite the fire. “Sometimes I wish there were two of me.” Hyde made a sound then practically slammed her own mug onto the desk, startling Toothless. “That's it! there are two of you!” before Hyde could finish what she was saying Stoick leaned forward, slamming down his own mug. “Is that another crack about my weight?!” He demanded, almost irritated, “What- what do you mean another- No, getting off topic, I mean Gobber. He could be the other you.”

 

Stoick considered it. “Gobber? Well, he's way too busy making all those dragon-killing... Well, used to be, until you- Which is great! Except for Gobber.” He said cautiously. Hyde nodded picking up her mug again. “Exactly.”

 

“You know, that's actually not such a bad idea. I could use a right hand.” Stoick said his mood brightening. “Which works out great ‘cause that’s kind of the only one he has left,” Hyde said, chuckling into her ale, laughing at her own joke. Stoick rolled his eyes before standing up. “Right, I’ll see you in the morning.”

 

“Wha-“ She started, trying to figure out why she would see him in the morning.

 

“Break a leg!” He shouted over his shoulder to her right leg, she flipped him off, yelling after him. “Piss off.” Her accent thickened on the two words.

 

***-*-***

Hyde did not see Stoick in the morning, nor did she break her leg. In fact, she barely saw Stoick until he made his way into Hyde’s home, much like the night before, except this time, he arrived with a block of ice pressed to his forehead. Hyde offered a little headache remedy that she was taught by Dolma, but he refused, merely gestured for a mug of ale, which Hyde grabbed along with her own. She wondered if this was going to become a regular thing if she was going to have to start hiding a secret stash. “I’m almost scared to ask, but, how did it go?” Hyde asked, lowering herself down on a seat opposite of Stoick. He made a grumbling sound. “So not good?’ She surmised. She sighed. “It was only the first day, I’m sure things will be better tomorrow.”

 

“Oh, it will be for me. Because it won't involve Gobber.” He said frustratedly, he took a large gulp out of the mug. She looked at him confused. “You’ll have to elaborate on that comment she said after a moment of silence, realising he wasn’t getting her silent hint to continue. He removed the block of ice. “I tried to fit a square peg in a round hole, and it sunk a ship and named a baby girl Magnus!” Hyde grimaced. “Now I'm not saying she didn't look like a Magnus, but try telling that to her parents.”

 

He rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Okay, so double you was a bust, but we gotta do something. Stoick looked up sharply. “You really care about him, don’t you?” Hyde looked at the chief confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He shook his head, “Never-mind.” He stood up. “We don't have to do anything. You, on the other hand, are going to be very busy finding a job for Gobber.” Hyde gives him a bewildered look. “Me? What, your not scared I’ll make him join a cult or somethin’ ?” She teased. Stoick fixed her with a warning glare. “Sorry, sorry, not a thing, not actually gonna happen.” He turned and shut the door behind him, his footsteps thumping down the stairs until they faded into silence, and Hyde was left alone. “So…” Toothless jumped on her playfully, derailing whatever thought came next, yanked at her leg until it came off and bounced away with it, chortling as he went.

 

***-*-***

Hyde stood infant of the entrance to the arena, the teen's in front of her with their dragons behind them, all had nervous looks on their faces as Hyde explained her plan.

 

“You're bringing Gobber here?” Gobber cautiously clarified.

 

“He's gonna be great. Nobody knows dragons like old Gobber. He's spent a lifetime, you know... studying them. If we can tap into that, we'll all be better Dragon Trainers.” She said, hoping to high hell she sounded more optimistic than she felt.

 

Suddenly, the doors burst open and in comes Gobber, lugging a whole cart-full of weapons. Hyde quickly scurries out of the way but stays close. Gobber waves his hand excitedly. “I'm back! Did ya miss me?” The dragons recoiled back, making various sounds of fear. “Um, hi, welcome.” Hyde started, then motioned to the large cart. “Um..” He hobbled back to the cart excitedly. “I thought we could train them.” He takes out an unusual weapon, like a sword mixed with an axe and a mace, he flicked it. “by threatening to kill them. That's how my daddy taught me to swim.”

 

He slams the weapon into the ground, cracks forming all around it. “School’s in session!” The dragons took, off except for Toothless who practically hid behind Hyde. The teens ran after their frightened dragons, trying to encourage them to come back.

 

“Your dad and mine must have been great friends,” Hyde muttered almost angrily. “Eh. I didn’t like school either.” Gobber stated, clearly missing the point. Hyde looked in his direction unimpressed as he packed up and headed back to the Smithy while Hyde settled down to wait for the teens to come back, a small flask of mead in her hand.

 

***-*-***

Hyde looked up, book open and flask long past empty, as it was reattached to her belt under her shirt. Dismounting, the riders groaned in pain. Hyde stood up. “What’s wrong?” She asked approaching them. “Ugh. We've been riding our dragons for four hours.” Astrid complained, she quickly turned around getting in Stormfly’s face. “It took forever to chase them down after Gobber scared them away.”

 

“Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I just don't know what to do with him.” Hyde said, rubbing the back of her neck, Tuffnut’s groan drew Hyde’s attention to the twins, and she stared as Ruffnut kicked Tuffnut’s butt. “Do you guys always have to fight?” She asked, she briefly wondered if this would be how she and her twin sister would have acted if she was still alive.

 

“It's okay. I asked her to do that. I was just trying to get the feeling back.” Tuffnut reassured. Hyde nodded. “You gonna return the favour or what?” Ruffnut asked.

 

“I've flown for hours on Toothless and I've never had a problem,” Hyde said, confused.

 

“That's because you have a saddle.” Astrid pointed out miserably. Hyde’s eyes widened.

 

“Saddles!”

 

***-*-***

“Saddles?” Gobber repeated Hyde, clarify what she had said to him. “I love it! I've got so many ideas!” Gobber looked at Hyde’s drawings with disinterest, then tosses them aside. Hyde sputtered her protest, highly insulted. “But not like these. Good ones.” He said. She took a deep, calming breath. “It’s great your excited. But I think there are some things in my designs you could use. I mean, you did teach me everything I know about building things.” Gobber turned around. “Exactly. That's why you should let Gobber do what Gobber does best. I've been making saddles since you were in diapers.” Hyde pushed forward. “I know you know what you're doing. But keep in mind, every dragon is different. So you need to adjust the-“ Gobber interrupted. 

 

“Hyde.”

 

“But-“ Hyde tried. “Hyde.” He said again, voice warning. She shut up. Back straighten and hands clasped together behind her back as she stood feet apart. Gobber sighed, “I’m sorry, Hyde.” He said, realising what he had done, Hyde shook her head, her stance relaxing “Just remember, I’m not your father Hyde, I’m not going to hurt you. And I may have taught you everything you know, but I haven't taught you everything I know.” Hyde smiles and nods as Gobber turns around, and starts happily and boisterously singing as Hyde made her way silently out of the building.

 

“I've got my axe and I've got my mace, and I love my wife with the ugly face! I'm a Viking through and through! Hmmm!” He sang loudly. Hyde smiled as she patted Toothless, “what do you think bud? Did we do the right thing?” He warbled happily and the two went off to rest, or at least Toothless to rest, and Hyde to find something to do, she silently cursed her Insomnia. “I’m a Viking through and through!” She sang quietly to herself.

 

***-*-***

 

The next day, at the Academy, the teens and their dragons are gathered to see Gobber's handiwork.

 

“Alright, this is an exciting day for all of us. Gobber has been working hard to-“ Hyde was saying before she was pushed to the side gently by Gobber’s hook, she wasn’t entirely sure what was on it, she thinks its a hammer. “I think they might want to hear from the artist himself.” He interrupted proudly as the teens got excited, curious about what was under the cover next to Gobber. “I've made a lot of saddles in my day. Horse, donkey and now, dragon. But these saddles are special. They're like my children; that is if you strapped your child to a flaming reptile and rode it. So without further ado-“ He rips the cloth away and unveils…odd-looking-and-equipped saddles. The reaction is immediate. “Woah!” Tuffnut said, “Wow!” Astrid and Snotlout both stared in shock at the saddles, Hyde couldn’t tell if it was a good shock or bad. “Okay, let's see where this leads,” Hyde says to herself as she follows Gobber to the closest saddle. “Is that-?” She began. “Yep. Flamethrower.” He gives the contraption a squeeze and Hyde jumped back as flame burst from it. “Didn't see that one coming, did ya?” Gobber asked.

 

“Uh...no, not for dragons. They come with one built in, actually.” Hyde pointed out.

 

Gobber, missing the point, simply replied. “I know, but can ya ever really have too much firepower?” Hyde shrugged, he had a point, she mentally made a note to learn how to build a flamethrower. Barf and Belch lifted their necks, the new saddle weighing them down. The twins loaded rocks into the mini catapults, before firing, the rocks hit both dragons on the head and they all fell back onto the ground. “Catapults, for the twins? Not such a good idea.” Hyde said, arms crossed. Gobber shrugged. Not too far from the twins, Fishlegs is encouraging a struggling Meatlug who is weighed down by four large maces attached to the saddle. “You can do it, girl! Think light.” Meatlug falls to the ground, exhausted. “Oh, come on! You can't tell me my saddle is heavier than Fishlegs!” Gobber exclaimed.

 

“My mom says I'm just husky,” Fishlegs said sensitively. Hyde makes another note to talk to his mother and father, he wouldn’t last in a real battle. Snotlout who had grabbed the saddle with the flamethrower was attempting to put it on Hookfang, who was resisting and thrashing around, throwing the saddle off, Hyde warily approached the two. He gently places a palm on the dragon's snout. “Come on, Hookfang. What's wrong with you?” Hookfang turns away. Snotlout throws his hands up in the air, frustrated. “That's it. Someone's trading with me.”

 

“Yeah, sure. I'll trade my perfect dragon for an angry oven.” Tuffnut responded sarcastically.

 

“This saddle's actually pretty good,” Astrid comments happily as her and Stormfly land with any trouble. “Wait 'til you try the horn!” Gobber says. Astrid blows into the horn, which is telescope-like. The horn expands when she does so, amplifying the sound. This startles Stormfly and she sends spines flying, pinning Snotlout to the wall. “Really? Again?” Hyde has decided she’s seen enough. “Gobber, I think we are gonna need to make a few-“

 

“Changes!” Gobber exclaimed before she could finish the sentence. “I'm way ahead of you. I've got so many ideas! It's gettin' crowded up here.” He chuckled and tapped his helmet. Hyde declares she needs a drink and leaves followed by an excitedly chattering Gobber who parts way to the Smithy. When Hyde returned to the arena. The teens had vacated and Hyde sighed as she glared at the mess, she took a swig of her refilled flask, grabbed a broom and set to work.

 

That was were Stoick found her, burn marks covered the walls and ground. “My Odin! This place looked better when we were killing dragons here!” Hyde sighed. “Yeah, we sort of got ‘Gobbered’." She said simply as if that explained everything.

 

“Well, you know Gobber. He means well, he just doesn't always do well. So what are you going to do about him?” Stoick asked Hyde, wondered if he was getting a kick out of this, watching her struggle with this responsibility, especially having to deal with…feelinsg.

 

“I'm going to clean up his messes and re-do his work. Then I’m gonna tell him.” SToick sighed, “Look, you have to tread lightly, Gobber isn’t like the soldiers on Akkadia, but, you should tell him the truth, just be sensitive about it.” Hyde looked at the Burkina Chief. “How?” She asked. Stoick made a sound she couldn’t quite decipher. “Jesus, how exactly were you raised?”

 

“By a mass murderer, who raised me to be a soldier after the realisation that I wasn’t going to die that easily, no matter how hard he tried,” Hyde replied, voice quick yet firm, face blank. He stared at her mouth parted slightly.

 

Silence.

 

It was a few minutes of simply staring at her before Stoick spoke again. “Tell him the truth, gently, if you lie it's not fair to him and it's not fair to you.” Hyde moved the broom to her right hand. “Why do I have to say something to him?! You didn’t! You just passed him on to me.” She demanded. "That’s what the chief does; he delegates. Look, I gave you this Academy because it's the best thing for Berk. Now you have to do what's best for the Academy. And I'm sorry, but what's best is very rarely what's easy As someone who’s fought in wars before, you should know this.” Hyde lowers her eyes. “I know.”

 

A particularly loud snore drew Stoick attention to Snotlout, still held up by Stormfly’s spines, snoring. “What about him?” Stoick asked.

 

“Leave him. He's going for a record.” Hyde said, with an absentminded wave. Stoick shrugged. 

“Enough said.”

 

***-*-***

 

Hyde and Toothless nervously approached the Blacksmith Shop where Gobber was currently working, The dark sky would have warranted for a torch to guide the way, but Hyde whose eyesight was much better, in the dark (but unfortunately more sensitive in the light) had little to no problem navigating the streets, especially with the moonlight, and the light from the various buildings around her. She would have been able to do this sooner if it hadn’t been for Toothless’s insistence of a fly. A loud bang comes from the shop a cloud of dust blew everywhere before slowly settling down, Hyde quickened her pace. She opened. A familiar click of a crossbow and Hyde crouched on the floor next second and reached behind to tightly wrapped around a knife which was strapped horizontally to her lower back, just above her waistline. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the sudden light. “Gobber!” She exclaimed slowly rising back to her feet. “Hyde!” He moved forward, then noticed her stance hand not having moved from behind her back. “I would never shoot you, Hyde. Unless I absolutely had to.”

 

“You have shot me.” Hyde pointed out. “If I still had my leg, I’d still be limping slightly from it. Gobber looked guilty. The weapon was placed on the bench and Hyde relaxed almost instantly. “You know, about the weapons, maybe the catapults were a bit much for some of the dragons yesterday. So I've gone a different way. I've gotten rid of the two big ones.”

 

Hyde nodded along.

 

“And replaced them with six little ones!” Hyde looked unimpressed, he faltered. “This, this isn’t working, is it?” Hyde sighed as she practically slumped against the wall. “No.”

 

“Are you gettin' rid of me, Hyde? Now I see why you had me put down the crossbow.” Hyde’s eyes widened. “Are you saying that you would have shot me?!” Hyde said, before shaking her head. “Nevermind, It’s just the saddles, there is plenty of other stuff you can do.”

 

“I don't need your pity. I've lost and arm and a leg. I think I'll survive losing a job.” Gobber said, voice breaking as he turned his back on her. Hyde lets her arms fall to her side.

 

“I'm really sorry, Gobber.”

 

Hyde and Toothless slowly and silently exited the Smithy. “By Thor that felt horrible.” Toothless nudged her comfortingly, Hyde could feel his tail wrapping around her waist before it was yanked back as flames shot out from the village, screams and panic quickly followed. “I stand corrected.”

 

Snotlout, panic all of his face, eyes watering. “I never... thought... I'd say this... but Hyde... HELP!!!”

 

***-*-***

 

Hookfang is thrashing around and behaving erratically, jumping from building to building before landing on the ground, spewing fire everywhere. He shakes his head a lot and rubs his face on whatever he could. “Everybody back away! The dragon's out of control! It's not safe here!” Stoick ordered.

 

“I don't know what happened! I was just rubbing his head! He usually loves that! But this time, he went crazy. My dragon hates me!” Snotlout cried distressed. “They do say a pet starts to take on the characteristics of its owner. I think that's what's happening here.” Fishlegs said as he and the rest of the teens approach them, Hyde glared at him.

 

“Hey!” Snotlout protest elbowing the boy in the gut.

 

“Yeah, I rest my case.” Fishlegs rasped out.

 

“When was the last time he ate?” Hyde asked.

 

“Not for days.” Hyde picked up a piece of fish from a nearby basket and very slowly walks up to him, she tosses the fish. “Are you hungry, boy?” Hookfang starts eating, then gave a sound and spat it out, right into Stoick’s beard, she reminded herself not to laugh.

 

“We've got to bring this dragon under control.” The chief said. Hyde raised her hand stopping Stoick in his tracks. “Just, stay there.” She instructed much to Stoick’s annoyance as the teen slowly approached the dragon. “There we go.” She says softly, Hookang’s eyes widen and pupils turned to slits, Hyde jumped back as the dragon roared. Fire spurted out as the rested of his body burst into flame. “Hyde, run!” Astrid screamed as Hyde scrambled back to her feet and bolted towards the teens. She ducked as Toothless jumped over her and glanced behind as Toothless jumped onto the Monstrous Nightmare, roaring at it.

 

“Toothless! Stop!” She shouted. Running towards her dragon, trying to calm him down. “I've seen enough, Hiccup. I'm sorry. We tried it your way.” Hyde could practically feel her stomach drop, and a lump form in her throat. “No.” She practically growled. Following the chief as he made his way to Gobber’s Smithy.

 

“Gobber! We need you.” He called. One hand keeping Hyde from making any noise, and injuring him. “No, you don't. Nobody needs me. Nobody needs any of us. Not even you, Bertha.” He said miserably.

 

“Are you crying?” Stoick asked shocked, sending a glare in Hyde’s direction. “Course not. Just chopping onions.”

 

“There are no onions.” Stoick pointed out.

 

“Not anymore. Look what I used to chop them with.” He held up a mace. “There's a dragon in the plaza that's out of control.”

 

“Then why don't you call Hyde?” Gobber asked, the teen in question, seemed to have stopped struggling, so Stoick took his hand away and stepped forward. “No Gobber, we need you.”

 

***-*-***

 

Hyde figured she’d only have one shot at saving Hookfang, however as soon as she got back to the group it didn’t help that Toothless practically sat on her, making it extremely difficult to move.

 

“Gobber!” Snotlout cried as the man in question come into view, feared etched over his face, the man decked out with weaponry was an intimidating sight.

 

“Stand back. I came here to do what I do best.“ Hyde stopped struggling from under Toothless, eyes widening. “He's gonna kill my dragon.” Snotlout said.

 

“No, he's not,” Astrid said, determined. Glancing back at the immobilised Akkadian.

 

“Uh, yeah, he is.” Tuff nut said, not helping the quivering Snotlout. “You don't use that stuff to butter toast,” Ruffnut said. “Well, I mean, we would, but you don’t,” Tuffnut added.

 

“You can't be serious! Hookfang is Snotlout's dragon.” Hyde shouted at Stoick, who had to take a second to process the fact that Hyde was pinned down by an innocent looking Toothless. “I'm sorry, Hyde, but sometimes you have to fall back on the old ways.” Hyde snorted. “Look, there’s probably just something wrong with him.” Hyde tried again.

 

“There's definitely something wrong with him!” Snotlout agreed. “We have to try to help him. We can't just get rid of him because he's having a bad day.”

 

“A bad day for a dragon can be a disaster for us. That's not a risk I am willing to take.” Stoick turned to face Gobber after his little speech and he motioned for Gobber to do it. Gobber stepped forward. The worst part was, Hyde understood, she understood and would probably make the same choice. The Bola’s in Gobbers hand clang together and he started spinning them then he let go, the first one caught Hookfang’s wings, tying them together in they stretched and upright position, what was quick to go were the dragons legs as they were forced together by another bola. He waited, a moment, Hookfang coughing up small sparks and flames. “Ha! You're all out of fire!” Hyde began struggling once more and Toothless growled. A good kick and Toothless stumbled back and Hyde launched forward, pulling the knife from its holster on her lower back and it clang against the weapon which Gobber wielded. Her arms were shaking from the strength Gobber was using to push down on her blade. “No.” She simply said. “There's no choice. It has to be done.” Robber lifted his weapon making Hyde stumble forward before Hookfang set himself on fire before roaring at the two. “Do you see that?” Gobber asked as the dragon straightened up.

 

“Yeah.” Hyde stepped back as Gobber stepped forward, sheathing his sword. “Time to put this beast out of its misery.” He runs forward and Hyde slips her own knife back into it’s holster, trigging her shirt back over it. “Hyde! What are you doing?” She held her hand up, as tif telling her to wait, as she watched Gobber jump on Hookfang’s head dangling from his lower jaw until he finally wrestled it to the ground. Snotlourt, who had ran up beside Hyde grabbed her arm in death gripped. Gobber held up an item, a tooth.

 

“Ah! You didn't kill him!” Snotlout said relieved, releasing Hyde’s arm, who rubbed the spot annoyed. “For a toothache?” He waves the half-hollowed out tooth around. “What kind of lunatic are you?” Hookfang approaches Snotlout and affectionately bumps him. “Stop it. Stop it. Ugh, I don't know where that came from. Can you train that out of him or…?” Hyde laughs than gives a cry of surprise when she’s knocked down by a heavy weighted she glares at Toothless who chortles as he shifts and lies on top of her. “Ugh.” Gobber turned to leave. “Gobber, wait.” He turned back to face her. “Thank you. A bad tooth. I can't believe I didn't think of that.” She said shaking her head.

 

“That's because you're not Gobber!” Hyde decided not to point out, he didn’t think of it either. “I've forgotten more about dragons than most men will ever know. Well, better go put the girls away.”

 

“Gobber! I think I got an idea…”

 

***-*-***

 

Two days later, Hyde could hear that song again. “I've got my axe and I've got my mace, and I love my wife with the ugly face! I'm a Viking through and throouugghh!” Gobber and as he filed the teeth of a hideous Zippleback, a large Tooth hanging above the entrance of the blacksmith shop, dragons lined up. Hyde could hear that song, the Workers Song.

 


End file.
